Nightlight
by KatMellark21
Summary: Tony and Pepper have a son. Cute/Fluffy


Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist. Well, ex-playboy. Ever since he'd finally admitted to himself that Pepper was the one for him. He gave up that part of his life. They settled down together and finally after so long, Tony finally got up the courage to propose to her and a few months later they were signing the papers at the justice building.

Two years down the road it happened. They didn't mean for it to happen, in fact they were trying to avoid it. They'd discussed it early on in their marriage that they didn't want kids for a while, if at all. Pepper had a company to run (mostly by herself, admittedly Tony really only did about twelve percent of the work). And Tony…well he didn't peg himself to be the fatherly type. But nonetheless, the day their baby boy was born was the happiest of their lives.

The nurse finished wrapping him up in a little blue blanket and approached Tony who was sitting on the edge of Pepper's hospital bed, "Here you are Mr. Stark. Congratulations."

Tony drew back a bit. "I don't like to be hande-," he began, but stopped. This wasn't just some "thing" that someone was giving him. It was his son. He reached forward carefully, taking the tiny infant in his arm and stared at him, his eyes growing wide with wonder. He may be a scientific genius, but he couldn't fathom just how so many feelings were rushing through him all at once without spontaneously combusting. Pride, joy, excitement, fear, curiosity, ecstasy. He could almost feel a lump forming in his throat.

The voice of a nurse cut through Tony's emotional escapade, "Mrs. Stark do you need anything?"

"No, thank you," Pepper replied quietly, still a little disconnected from the world because of the medications and the delivery. "I'm fine."

Tony slid over ever so carefully to sit right beside Pepper and kissed her gently. "Proud of you Pep. You did a good job."

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" she said as a small smirk settled on her lips.

"I think we're fine for now. You get some rest." She grinned at him and let her eyes fall closed, in moments falling into a deep, recovering sleep. A nurse came into the room and took the infant with her to write down his measurements. Tony's hand followed after him, reaching out because he wasn't ready to let him go just yet. He sighed when the nurse stepped out the door with his son, and started to pace the length of the room. His eyes glanced up occasionally to see Pepper; sleeping soundly on her pillow, her ginger hair a frizzy, stressed, mess. He brushed a lock of it out of her face, admiring how the remaining light from the sunset that was coming through the window made her hair shine like a flame. He bent down to give her a kiss where his fingers had brushed the hair from her forehead and she mumbled in her sleep, shifting slightly under the blanket. Tony smiled and went to sit down in a chair by the window.

He didn't know how long he'd been asleep when he woke up to the sound of crying. The room was dark and chilly. Tony pushed himself up out of the chair and made his way over to the little hospital crib. Pepper started to wake up, so Tony quickly, but gently lifted his son up put of the crib and cradled him I his arms, trying to hush him so Pepper could sleep. Altogether the baby stopped crying, and Tony looked down to find the baby staring wide-eyed at his ark reactor glowing through his Black Sabbath tee shirt. The baby reached up a curious hand to the soft white-blue glow and murmured his curiosity. Tony felt a warmth radiating in his chest at the tender child's touch, and it wasn't coming from the shrapnel-repelling technology.

Four years later.

It was late when Tony flew home one night., his Iron Man suit full of dents scrapes and scratches from his work with the Avengers that day. He was sure his family would already be asleep when he got back. But much to his surprise he noticed that the light was still shining through his son's bedroom window. Tony flew up and landed on his roof and after de-suiting he walked down to the boy's room.

He creaked the door open and saw the toddler sitting on his bed with a chair in front of his closet door as though to keep something from opening it. Tony walked in and sat down on the bed with the boy, "Hey son, what are you still doing up?"

The little boy crawled across the bed and curled himself up onto his daddy's lap, "I don't want the monsters to get me. They don't like the light, so I hafta leave it on so they won't come out."

Tony smiled a little. "There's no monsters. And if there were, I'd get 'em for you. Now, go to sleep," he said, picking the boy up and tucking him under the covers.

When Tony reached the door, he turned back to say good night and flipped the lights off, then walked down the hall to his room. A faint glow came from behind him as he walked down the hall and he turned back to find that his son had turned the light on again.

Suddenly, Tony had an idea. He went down to his lab and took the old arc reactor that Pepper had had engraved down from its spot on the shelf along with all the scientific award he had been awarded. After tinkering with it for a while, he shoved it into a stuffed bear and stitched it back up. He went back upstairs to his son's room and put the bear next to the sleeping child. He couldn't resist kissing his fuzzy shock of black hair before walking out and turning off the lights.

The child woke up when the lights turned off. He sat up in bed and started to get up so he could turn it back on, until he saw a glowing blue-white light. He flipped the teddy bear over and saw the arc reactor glowing inside of it and smiled. He picked up the bear and hugged it tightly with both arms, snuggling his face into its soft fur before laying down with it, the soft light comforting him. "Thank you daddy. I love you," He said with a yawn before drifting to sleep.


End file.
